Gills manager Steve Lovell was obviously pleased with the battling point at Priestfield on Saturday against a decent top ten side Peterborough and said afterwards, “We never say die, we roll our sleeves up and went right to the end and got the equaliser which is what we deserved.” Wind and rain made conditions difficult but despite Lovell saying, “I think a draw was a fair result.” - there were times that Gills looked susceptible to quick movement through the centre where Gills midfield were lacking cover.

They face an improved Northampton at Sixfields but Gills will be boosted by the fact that the Cobblers have the joint worse home record in League One. They will also be out to revenge their 1-2 home defeat and prevent a ‘double’ by the Cobblers but it will not be easy as Northampton are on a run of four wins out of their last six matches. Gills have to alert and not give opportunites to Matt Grimes and new signing Kevin van Veen.

Gills Manager Steve Lovell will probably stick with his main players when they line-up against Northampton. He will be hoping that captain Lee Martin is ready to return as the Gills midfield action was missing the influentuel player in the home game against Peterborough.

Striker Conor Wilkinson playe his part in the ‘never say die’ attitude during the last fifteen minutes of the Peterborough come-back and could be rewarded with a place but more likely will remain on the subs bench.

Midfielders Franck Moussa and Navid Nasseri could feature if Lee Martin is not available as it is unlikely that Lovell will use Elliott List at the start of an away match as he did at home versus Peterborough. List will be on the bench and come on as an impact player if required.

New striker, signed from Scunthorpe, van Veen has still to get off the mark and was substituted agfainst Wimbledon with top scorer Chris Long who has eight to his name this campaign. Both will probably play a part in the game against Gills.

Northampton Town Team News

Like Gills under Steve Lovell Cobblers boss Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has led a revival from the depths of the relegation zone and they are on a decent run of four wins in six games. Their last match was won away at struggling Wimbledon by 1-3 and Hasselbaink heaped praise on his team's 'very good overall performance' saying, "We could have scored more goals and we looked dangerous and it was really good to see.”

When Northampton played Gills at Priestfield both teams were in the botom four and the Cobblers had only scored ten goals in 14 matches. Since then Hasselbaink has increased the scoring rate from all areas and following the latest win he said, "The finishing today was good and and it's nice to see different names score other than strikers. Cobblers home record was dented last time with defeat against lowly Dale and was their eighth this campaign. This is joint worse in League One.

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GILLINGHAM (home games only)

SOUTHEND (away games only)

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L

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L

1

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3

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Northampton (home games only)

Gillingham (away games only)

L

D

D

W

L

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W

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W

7

W

W

8

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L

W

6

Gills and Northampton Town are old friends and have competed in a total of 109 games in League and Cup competitions since the beginning of the 1920/21 season. Throughout that time almost all the matches have been at the Division Three level but during 2006>08 season there were a few in League One including a 4-0 Cobblers win at Sixfields where they completed the double after a 0-1 victory at Priestfield.

Last season Gills were successful in taking four points off the Cobblers. The Sixfields game ended 0-0, a point under Ady Pennock against former boss Justin Edinburgh, that secured Gills League One status for another season.

This campaign they met last October at Priestfield under caretaker boss Steve Lovell, when both teams were in the bottom four. The Cobblers won 1-2 after Lee Martin had equalized but a late free-kick that curled past Tomas Holy gave Northampton victory.